On Friday Morning, Neal Brown sat down with WV MetroNews’ Hoppy Kercheval on Talkline for his first interview since getting fired.
Brown started by expressing his extreme gratitude to the state of West Virginia, the university, Wren Baker, the entire athletic department, his players, and his staff. Later, he was asked about the disappointing season and brought up some challenges they faced particularly resources.
“I think the things, institutionally is, the resources,” Brown said. “You can’t have top-four league expectations and have bottom-four resources. And Wren’s going to change that. It takes time. That’s not something you can overturn. But we’re resourced in the bottom four in several categories, whether it was salary pull, [revenue] share, NIL, however you want to speak about it. But I think that’s all going to change, but institutionally, those things have got to change to get the program where it needs to be on a consistent basis.”
In terms of resources, Brown compared it to the MLB, saying the teams that spend the most money are always in the hunt, like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. However, he did say that you could catch lightning in a bottle like the Milwaukee Brewers.
While taking accountability for the team’s performance, Brown also highlighted the obvious defensive struggles and a challenging schedule. He acknowledged the passion of the fanbase and believes that the Backyard Brawl loss had a prolonged sting.
He continually brought up inconsistency while noting both offensive and defensive struggles. While he was fired, Brown made it clear that he doesn’t feel ‘bitter’ towards West Virginia and wishes them only the best in the future.
